Graphsoft is a Macintosh success story. At each revision, its products add useful features yet run faster than their predecessors. Microsoft’s Word 6 programming team could learn a thing or two from Graphsoft.
Graphsoft’s Blueprint is an object-oriented drafting program that makes it easy to do the kind of drawing that used to occupy students for hours in traditional blueprint-oriented drafting classes. This is not state-of-the-art CAD: it has no 3-D features (which are available in Graphsoft’s MiniCad), surface modeling, or animation, as the architectural programs that support 3-D walk-throughs do. It is, however, an excellent 2-D drafting program, and its list price is under $300.
Blueprint’s key new feature is improved speed. Version 5 comes with 680X0 and Power Mac programs in the same disk set. In 680X0 mode Blueprint 5 performs operations from 1.5 to 2 times as fast as Blueprint 4 does. On a Power Mac, it’s even more impressive... In practice, this means redraws of a nice 30-by-40-inch sheet covered with detail (a 250K file) are nearly instantaneous on a Power Mac. The trademark Graphsoft chatty cursor, which reports and changes shape as you move it across the objects in a drawing, now carries no speed penalty. This program feels significantly faster than equivalent 2-D CAD programs on a midrange Sparcstation. That’s quite an accomplishment, both for Graphsoft and for Apple.
Blueprint 5 also has enough new features to justify a whole-digit version change. For precisely positioning objects on a page, a new Nudge command lets you move whole objects one pixel at a time. A new Offset tool lets you specify an object offset, and the Move Page tool shifts the page frame relative to the drawing. New drafting convenience features include a Tape Measure; a Protractor; and a 2-D Properties Display that shows area, perimeter, and centroid, among other functions. Blueprint’s already nifty tools for handling objects in walls in architectural drawings have been augmented with Y-Join, Butt-Join, and Edit Symbols in Walls. A unique feature, TrueType to Polyline, converts text in a TrueType font to a set of Blueprint lines, making possible unusual font tricks such as distortions and stretches for dramatic titling and labeling. Blueprint 5 ships with thoroughly educational sample drawings and a fairly complete symbol library, and exchanges files in PICT, EPS, and DXF formats.
The Last Word
Blueprint has always been one of the most intuitive Mac programs for drafting, and that tradition continues. Although some pseudo-3-D features (simple extrusion, for example) would be nice. Blueprint users can step up to the 3-D world of MiniCAD 5 with minimal training. For plain old 2-D drafting. Blueprint has a rich, easy-to-use feature set and is admirably fast. The Power Mac version, in particular, is a first choice for large architectural or engineering diagrams.
Seiter, Charles. (January 1995). Blueprint 5.0. Macworld. (pg. 71).
Diehl Graphsoft Inc.
Applications
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blueprint5.sit
Emulating this? It could probably run under: 
Basilisk II
